A Change Is Gonna Come
by Darkpurplelighter
Summary: Fed up with the abuse Johnny is getting at home, Ponyboy asks Johnny to live with him and his brothers on a full time basis.
1. Summertime Arrives

XXXXXX

It was now summertime in Tulsa and school was out. It had probably been the most trying time of Johnny's life and that was saying a lot. Eight months ago he murdered Bob Sheldon in order to save the life of his best friend Ponyboy. Together, they hid in a church that ended up catching fire. Little kids were inside, and he and Pony went inside to save them but a beam hit his back and severly injuried him.

He had to spent five months in physical therapy in order to heal, spending a lot of time in the hospital. Once it was dealed he could finally go home he either stayed with at the Curtis house or at Two-Bit's place before he finally felt 'safe' enough to head home.

As far as the murder went, it was deemed self-defense and he was let off. However, that only made the feud between greasers and socs esculate. There were more fights, more jumpings, more of everything.

Today, Johnny had spent the better part of the day in his room; he could hear his mom and dad talking, but couldn't make out what they were saying. Finally at around six o'clock his dad barged into his room.

"Now you listen here boy, your punk friends don't scare me! Your mother and I are sick and tired of dealing with you and your laziness so here's how things are going to work this summer. Every day I will give you a list of chores. And you will do them or you won't eat! Is that understood?"

By the time his dad had finished his face had turned a very deep shade of red and he was practically shaking. Johnny was too frightened to say anything but,

"Yes sir."

His dad nodded and left, slamming the door so hard it made the window rattle, making Johnny wince. Johnny took several deep breathes to calm himself down. He was actually a little happy that his dad only threatened to take away meals and didn't hurt him.

He figured that he could handle this, and let out a sigh. Johnny walked out of his room to join the family for dinner, and while he was given a smaller portion, it was still enough to fill him up. Johnny went to bed early that night knowing that he was going to need all the rest he could get for tomorrow.

The next day, Johnny woke up, got dressed and walked downstairs. He wanted to go to Ponyboy's house but remembered what his dad told him about chores. He saw a list lying on the kitchen table. Johnny rolled his eyes and picked it up and started reading.

Take out trash.

Do dishes.

Do laundry.

Cut grass.

Clean the bathroom.

Clean living room.

Johnny let out a heavy groan. He would have to start work now to even have a chance of getting everything finished by the time his parents got home from work.

Before doing anything he grabbed a tall glass and filled it with water. Johnny knew that he had to drink a lot of water when doing work outdoors in the summer if he didn't want to get sick.

Johnny started by mowing the lawn and doing the other garden work, he wanted to get it all done before it got too hot. Doing that took several hours and by the time he was done it was nearly noon and he was exhausted. Johnny started wondering what the others were doing right now.

He managed to get the living room cleaned and scrubbed in the bathroom which had took longer than he expected. He took a deep breath. Johnny wanted to go upstairs and sleep but still had the kitchen to do.

Johnny was kneeling down scrubbing the kitchen floor when the door slammed open. He jerked his head up as his dad came charging into the house like a raging bull, screaming and cursing. Johnny could tell he was drunk.

Before Johnny could do anything his dad grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him to his feet screaming, "You little shit! This is all your fault! Johnny shook his head not knowing what he was talking about, but he just ignored him, "Oh yes, I've just been fired from my job! I'm going to teach you a lesson!"

Johnny felt his blood go cold at those words he struggled to get away, but he was clocked over the head, making the room spin. His dad dragged Johnny up stairs, struggling and trying to hit and kick but all that did was make him get smacked again.

Johnny was tossed into his room, he quickly curled himself into a ball trying to protect himself as his dad's belt connected with his back. It took everything he had not to yell out in pain. After a few more strikes, his dad stopped and left the room.

As soon as the door closed Johnny passed out cold.


	2. An Idea Comes to Mind

XXXXXX

Groaning a little, Johnny finally stirred and slowly opened his eyes, still lying on the floor of his room. He rolled over slightly, wincing at the pain in his back as he got to his feet.

Johnny looked over at the clock and noticed how late it was. He decided to leave and go sleep at the Curtis house, just in case his old man woke up and felt like hitting him again.

The Curtis house was only a short walk from his house. The door was always open for all of them, just in case they ever needed a place to stay. As soon as he entered the house he felt a sense of warmth that his house didn't have.

He sat down on the couch and took off his shoes and slowly layed down on top of the blanket instead of underneath it, hoping that the soft sheet would be better help for his sore back. After Johnny was able to get comfortable he closed his eyes and after a few minutes he was sound asleep.

The following morning Johnny was awoken by the sound of laughter. He sat up, rubbing his eyes, his back only feeling slightly better. He got up off the couch and curiously walked toward the source of laughter; Ponyboy and Sodapop's room.

Johnny cracked open the door a little and couldn't help but smile at the sight.

Soda and Pony were having their usual morning wrestling match. After watching them for a few seconds, Johnny closed the door and walked back to the living room, feelings of envy coming over him…

Just like it did anytime he saw Ponyboy with Soda, wishing that he could have the family that his friend had.

After a few more minutes, Sodapop rushed out of his room and saw him standing there.

"See you later Johnny." Sodapop said, messing up his hair as he ran by him and out the front door. Johnny watched as Soda ran outside to Steve's waiting car when someone grabbed him from behind.

Ponyboy had placed Johnny in a headlock and began to give him a noogie.

"Say uncle." Pony said, trying to pull Johnny to the ground.

"Not today Pony." Johnny said, not in the mood for wrestling as he didn't think that would be good for his back. Thankfully, Pony listened and let go of him.

"Come on, let's get some breakfast." Pony said as he let go and led the way into the kitchen. He got two bowls for them and poured cereal in them. He handed Johnny his and opened the refrigerator, getting out the milk.

"What happened to your mouth?" Pony asked while sitting down, noticing the dark bruise on Johnny's jaw.

Johnny didn't answer, just poured milk in his cereal, refusing to meet Pony's gaze.

Pony frowned and didn't ask anymore about it. He knew were he had got it. He hated Johnny's father, and got angry just like the rest of the gang did anytime they saw a mark on Johnny caused by him.

"I'm sorry Johnny." Pony said quietly.

"It's okay. I'm fine." Johnny assured his friend.

They finished up eating without saying another word before Pony cleared his throat and spoke again.

"So what do you want to do today? Go see a movie, find out what Dally's up to?"

"Uh, I don't think I'll be able to do anything for a little while." Johnny said.

"What do you mean?"

"My old man, he wants me to do chores around the house…every day. And if I don't, I don't eat. I'll probably get hit too."

"That bastard." Pony swore.

Johnny agreed but couldn't help but chuckle a bit at Pony's curse.

"What?" Pony asked.

"It just doesn't sound natural when you curse." Johnny explained.

Pony grinned and playfully pushed his shoulder and began walking towards the front door.

"Come on, I'll help you out."

"Oh, you don't have to do that Pony."

"No, I want to." Pony said, leading the way to Johnny's house. "As soon as we're done we can do something."

Johnny walked up beside him.

"Well, there can't be too much left. I did a lot work yesterday."

But how wrong he was.

As soon as they got to the house Johnny took a look at the new list his father had left him on the kitchen table.

Take out the trash.

Prune bushes and trees.

Clean out gutters.

Weed garden.

"Prune the pushes and trees!" Pony said incredulously.

"Well, do you still want to help?" Johnny asked.

Pony signed and nodded as Johnny went and got glasses of water for the two of them.

They walked outside and Johnny began pruning the bushes while Ponyboy took care of the gutters.

Now that Johnny had some help, the work only took half as long as it did yesterday. By the time they were finished it was only around 11:00.

"Thanks Pony." Johnny said as he wiped sweat from his brow.

"Don't mention it." Pony said and the two began making their way to the movie theater. It was the least he could do. Johnny was his best friend, he deserved a better family. Deserved to live somewhere were he was loved and appreciated.

Ponyboy pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and offered one to Johnny who declined. He lit the cigarette and took a long drag as a thought suddenly came to his mind.

Sodapop's old room was empty.


	3. New Addition

XXXXXX

Ponyboy sat as the movie continued by couldn't concentrate on it. He only had one thought in his head. He always wondered how his friend could stand living in a house where his father beats him and his mother ignores him.

But he didn't have to deal with that anymore. He could live with them permenately, never have to go back to his parents house again. He stayed with them all the time anyway, it shouldn't be a big deal.

The movie then ended and the lights soon went on.

"So what now?" Johnny said while standing up.

"To the DX, I need to talk to Sodapop about something. Something important." Pony said.

Ponyboy practically raced out of the lobby and out the doors.

"What is it?" Johnny said, having to jog to keep up with Pony.

Ponyboy stopped and turned to look at him.

"Johnny…you can live with us."

"What do you mean live with you?"

"Sodapop's old room. We don't use for nothing, you can stay in there." Pony explained.

Johnny stared at him in disbelief.

"What about-

"Don't worry. He won't mind, I'm sure of it."

The two walked the rest of the way to the gas station. Pony saw Steve outside working on a car and asked Johnny to wait while he talked with Soda.

Pony walked in, and Soda looked up from the counter and smiled when he saw him.

"Hey Pony."

"Soda I need to talk to you."

Seeing a few people around, Pony grabbed Soda's wrist and dragged him to the bathroom, slamming the door behind them.

Soda looked confused, and a little scared. "Just what do you plan on doing Pony?"

Ponyboy suppressed a grin and spat it all out at once.

"Johnny's dad is making him do work all through the house, and he gets starved if he doesn't do it. And even if he does it all, he still gets hit." Pony remembered the bruise on his jaw.

"That's horrible." Soda said.

Pony nodded. He was tired from doing just half the work Johnny did. He couldn't imagine having to do all that on a daily basis.

"I wanted to ask you…can Johnny stay with us?" Pony asked.

"Yeah." Soda shrugged. "He can stay over any night he wants."

"I don't mean just at nights. I mean, live with us. In your old room."

Soda looked at him in surprise.

"Pony…I don't know." He began.

"Please Soda. He can't live with his parents anymore."

Soda felt uneasy. He wasn't sure if they could afford to have someone else live with them on a full time basis. And he didn't plan on sleeping with Pony forever.

"Pony, you know we love Johnny to death, but what about money?"

"He can get a job here. You told me once that they're always looking for people. After the summer is over he can work part time, like Steve. Please Soda." Pony begged.

Soda sighed.

"Well, it's fine with me."

Pony beamed and was about to throw himself at Soda but he stopped him. "But…you know Darry has to say it's okay too."

After he said that, all the feeling of excitement and happiness went away. He had forgotten all about having to ask Darry. What would Darry say to letting Johnny stay?

"Soda…you don't think he'll say no do you?"

"I don't know buddy. Just tell him what you told me about what's been going on with Johnny's dad."

Pony stared at the ground. He wasn't so sure about this anymore. Darry wasn't as understanding as Soda was, and he had enough to worry about. He might not be up to having to take care of somebody else.

Soda noticed the look on Pony's face and wrapped his arm around his shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Johnny is Darry's buddy too."

Later that night Soda made dinner for all of them. While Soda and Johnny were able to eat everything on there plates, Pony hadn't even ate half of what was on his. He was still a little nervous about talking to Darry.

Pony jumped a little when he heard the door open and close.

"Sorry I'm late." Darry said while walking into the kitchen. "Hey Johnny."

"Hey." He said quietly while he stood and took his plate to the sink.

After another minute Sodapop finished and took his plate to the sink, nudging Pony along the way.

"Darry…I need to talk to you about something."

Soda walked into the living room seeing Johnny sitting on the couch. He turned on the television and the two started watching some game show. Soda smiled at Johnny who could hear Ponyboy and Darry talking but couldn't make out what they were saying. He knew that Soda had said yes, now the only hurdle was asking Darry.

After about ten minutes, Darry walked into the living room.

"Johnny." He said.

Johnny slowly turned his head and looked up at Darry and Pony, who was standing next to him.

"You can stay with us."

_What? _

Johnny almost fell off the couch in surprise. Clearing his head, Johnny shot up straight to face him. Had he heard him clearly? Had Darry really said it was okay?

Ponyboy smiled at Johnny.

"On two conditions."

Johnny became uneasy at the sound of the last part. He looked from Darry to Ponyboy, his eyes saying a lot.

"They're really no big deal," Ponyboy said.

"What are they?" Johnny asked.

"One, you will have to eventually start working with Soda and Steve at the DX." Darry said.

Johnny nodded, that wasn't so bad.

"I'll teach him everything I know." Soda spoke up.

"And two, you have to stay in school." Darry finished.

Johnny wasn't too thrilled about this. He had always hated going to school. But anything was better than having to deal with his old man every night.

"Okay." Johnny said.

"There was something about staying out of trouble too," Pony added.

"Yeah." Darry began. "But boys will be boys. I know you'll be on your best behavior."

Johnny looked up, meeting Darry's eyes. He nodded again, not being able to say anything. He couldn't believe this was happening.

"Well, Pony do you want to take Johnny to his new room?" Darry said.

Ponyboy quickly grabbed a hold of Johnny's wrist and pulled him down the hall.

"Darry, thank you." Johnny managed to say.

"You're welcome, Johnny," Darry said, smiling as Pony led Johnny to his new room


	4. Fun and Games

XXXXXX

Johnny very quickly got accustomed to his new room. The walls were painted white and the floor had white carpet. A stand was set to the left of the bed which had a lamp and alarm clock on it. The room also was furnished with a desk set to the right of a bookshelf of which held books and pictures of the Curtis family.

Johnny pulled the covers over himself and closed his eyes.

But the best thing was going to sleep and not having to worry about somebody coming in and hitting him or start yelling at him. He suppressed a shudder at the memory of his "family." He was safe here.

The next morning Johnny was awoken by somebody shaking his shoulder.

"Johnny." Said the voice.

"What?" He groaned. He opened his eyes slightly and was surprised to see Sodapop standing there.

"Soda? What is it?"

"Come on, let's go." Soda said.

Oh no. They weren't kicking him out were they?

"Go? Go where?" Johnny asked nervously.

"You can't move in…"

Johnny's eyes widened.

"If you don't have your stuff."

Johnny breathed a heavy sigh of relief and actually felt like hitting Soda.

"What?" Soda laughed. "Did you think we were getting rid of you?"

Johnny shrugged and got out of bed.

"I'll wait for you outside." Soda said while messing up Johnny's hair.

Sodapop walked with Johnny to his house and waited downstairs for Johnny to pack his stuff. Johnny got out one suitcase, he figured that's all he would need and started packing his clothes and other things. He was done in less than five minutes and made his way down the stairs.

"Is that all?" Sodapop asked in surprise as he looked at the one suitcase.

"Yeah."

Soda frowned. He wished that Johnny had moved in with them sooner.

"Your dad doesn't know where we live does he?"

Johnny shook his head no.

"Good. Then he won't know where you went."

_Probably won't even care. _Johnny thought.

"Alright, let's head back." Soda said, taking the suitcase from him and walking out the door.

Before following Soda out, Johnny went back to the kitchen to see the new list his father laid out for him.

Organize the closet.

Mop the floors.

Change the bed sheets.

Sweep the chimney.

Johnny laughed slightly and crumpled the list up and threw it in the trash.

XXXXXX

The next few days were some of the best in Johnny's life. On Saturday, Darry was off and decided to join Sodapop, Ponyboy, and Johnny in going swimming at the lake.

"Do you think it's cold?" Pony asked, looking at the water.

"Why don't you find out?" Darry pushed Pony, making him fall in.

"That wasn't funny!" Pony shouted while surfacing over the water. Ponyboy held out his hand for Darry to take. Darry rolled his eyes and as he grabbed his hand, Pony pulled him in with him. Soda and Johnny were doubled over laughing at them.

"Wanna jump?" Soda asked Johnny.

"Sure!"

The two jumped into the river at the same time, going underwater and coming back up. Johnny brushed the bangs away from his face.

"So what do you want to play?" Ponyboy asked while shivering.

"Want to play chicken?" Soda asked.

"Yeah!"

Johnny started to get on Soda's shoulders. Darry looked at Ponyboy.

"Turn around so I can get on you shoulders."

"Ha, ha!"

Darry grinned and went underwater so Pony could get on his shoulders. Darry then stood up and steadied himself and faced Soda.

"One, two, three!" Soda screamed and Pony and Johnny locked hands, trying to wrestle the other down.

Ponyboy almost had Johnny down but Soda reached up and started tickling Pony on his sides. He fell over and brought Darry with him.

"Cheater!" Ponyboy yelled as he came above the water.

"You never said there were any rules!" Soda laughed.

"Like you even play by the rules!" Pony said while splashing him.

"Hey!"

And then Soda splashed Pony back. Soon Darry and Johnny got in on it and there was a big splash match going on now and no one could see anything. They played another round of chicken and splashing war until the afternoon when they decided to get out.

When they got back to the house, Darry ordered 2 large pizzas, while Ponyboy dried off and left to go find the others.

"I'm going to take a shower." Darry said.

"Yeah I'll go get the pizza," Soda said, and then looked over at Johnny. "Wanna come?"

"Sure, hang on a second." Johnny went back to his room and slipped his jacket on.

They walked out of the front door and got into Sodapop's car.

"So…what kind of pizza did you get?" Johnny asked.

"One with cheese and pepperoni, and one with everything. That's for me." Soda grinned while pulling out of the driveway.

"Did you have fun at the lake today?" Soda asked.

"Yeah." Johnny said.

Soda grinned at Johnny's shyness and turned on the radio, he hated silence. He turned up the volume and Johnny watched Soda sing along to the song and bob his head. Soda looked over at him and laughed.

"What?"

Johnny shook his head.

"You're crazy Soda." Johnny said.

"You're too quite."

Soda pulled into the parking lot for the pizza place so their conversation was cut off. They went inside and picked up the pizza and put it on the back seat and started driving home. As soon as they walked through the door Darry took the pizzas from him and Johnny went and got Coke and Root Beer for everyone. Soda went to the cabinet and took down plates and cups.

After a few more minutes Ponyboy, Dally, Two-Bit, and Steve walked through the door.

"Pizza!" Two-Bit yelled.

"About time you guys got here." Darry said.

They all gathered in the living room, watching television while they ate. They stayed there until it the end of the movie.

It was getting late and on the couch, Darry noticed that Ponyboy fell asleep on his shoulder. He carefully picked him and carried him to his room, and then went back to the kitchen to see Soda and Johnny finishing putting things away.

"I'm going to call it a night guys." Darry said.

"Goodnight Darry." Soda said.

After another few minutes and two finished up.

"Alright, Johnny. Time for bed." Soda said.

"I don't want to."

A look of mischief was crossed Soda's features. Johnny took a step back. Sodapop took a step forward.

Sodapop dove for Johnny, who not expecting that, jumped back. Johnny ran for his room as Soda grabbed for him, but he leapt out the way and onto the bed. Soda jumped on him and pinned him to the mattress.

Johnny tried to squirm but was unsuccessful. Soda was stronger than he looked. All he could do was watch as his hand snaked up toward his side and squealed as Soda tickled him.

"Johnny," Sodapop said with all the authority he could muster, "It is time for bed."

"NO!" Johnny said stubbornly but playfully at the same time as Soda continued.

"Go to bed."

Johnny shook his head. "No."

Soda tickled his sides relentlessly. "You will go to bed."

"No!" Johnny squirmed and laughed as Soda began to tickle his stomach.

At all the commotion, Ponyboy woke up. Getting out of bed, he walked to Johnny's room and couldn't help feel a pang of jealousy when he saw what was going on.

"Uh, Soda are you coming to bed or what?" Pony asked.

Soda looked back at him.

"As soon as he gives up."

Sodapop then went right back to tickling Johnny into submission. Ponyboy rolled his eyes and went back to bed, trying not to let it bother him. But it did…a little.


	5. Jealousy

XXXXXX

The sunlight came through the blinds and hit Ponyboy's face. He unwillingly opened his eyes, but instantly was thankful for the friendly morning sun.

Usually he would have been woken up a completely different way. Sodapop would have came in and jumped on him, dragged him out of bed and they would have wrestled with each other. He always lost, but that didn't matter to him.

Ponyboy rolled over and frowned at the empty space next to him on the bed. Sodapop didn't wake him up again, and he probably knew why.

Sure he was happy that Sodapop and Johnny were bonding, but he couldn't help but feel slightly jealous.

When the summer started, Johnny and him were spending every minute together, going to the movies, hanging out at Two-Bit's place, going to the bowling alley. But now Johnny was spending every day with Soda, going with him to the DX, hanging out with him all day now.

It wouldn't bother him as much if Soda was still spending as much time with him.

Sodapop was no longer goofing around with him, or taking him places, or wrestling with him in the morning. At first he ignored it, but after a few more days of this Ponyboy began to wonder if Johnny would take his place. He knew it was stupid but he couldn't help it. It was the feeling older kids probably got when they got a new little brother or sister and their parents weren't giving them as much attention anymore.

Everyone had their place. Darry was the authority figure, Soda was the one that understood everyone and comfort them, and he was the youngest of the family and the smart one. Johnny was the gang's pet.

Now it's as if Pony didn't exist anymore. Now it was like Johnny was Soda's little brother.

Ponyboy had just gotten out of the shower and was getting changed. He could hear Darry, Sodapop, and Johnny's voices in the kitchen.

"Will I have to deal with customers much?" Johnny asked.

"No, what you'll be doing is cleaning the windows, moping, dusting, things like that." Soda explained. "When you start working there I'll make sure my schedule is the same as yours."

"Thanks Soda."

"Don't mention it little buddy."

Ponyboy took a deep breath and walked into the kitchen. Everyone immediately looked up at him.

"Hey Pony."

He just nodded. "Hey Johnny, do you wanna come with me to the movies today?"

Johnny looked at Soda and then to Pony. "Maybe later, but I'm gonna go with Sodapop for a while first okay?"

Darry saw the hurt look in Pony's eyes as Soda and Johnny finished up and left the house.

Ponyboy sighed and went on making himself breakfast.

Once he was sure Johnny was gone with Sodapop, Darry looked up at Ponyboy. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Pony said casually.

"Pony, I can tell something's wrong. What is it?"

"Nothing's wrong Darry. I just don't like being replaced."

Darry looked dumfounded.

"What are you, is that what you think?"

Ponyboy didn't respond as he opened the refrigerator and took out the milk.

"There's nothing to be jealous about, Soda and I are just helping him get settled in." Darry said, almost in disbelief that Pony was acting this way.

"Well, I'm pretty sure he's settled in by now." Pony snapped.

"Pony, remember, it was your idea for Johnny to start living here."

Ponyboy grumbled something under his breath before taking a drink from the carton.

Darry sighed.

"If it's really bothering you that much, why don't you just talk to them?"

Ponyboy looked at Darry for a second before walking out the kitchen, putting his shoes on, and walked out the house, making his way to the DX.

As soon as he got there he saw Johnny sitting on the counter reading a magazine with Sodapop nowhere in sight. He opened the door and Johnny looked up as he heard the bell on the door.

"Hey Pony." He said surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"You want me to leave?" Pony asked.

Johnny looked caught of guard by his tone.

"No…do you want to talk to Soda? I'll get him for you."

Pony shook his head.

"No, I want to talk to you."

"Okay." He said slowly and hopped off the counter, following Pony outside.

The two began walking down the sidewalk.

"So, what's up?" Johnny asked.

"You know, you don't work here yet. You don't have spend every minute of your time here."

"No, I'm just…Soda's getting me ready for when I do start working."

"Do you think I'm stupid? Training doesn't take this long. I know you two are doing a lot more than just that."

Johnny just stared at him. He never heard him sound this upset before.

"Pony what's that matter? You seem so-

"Distant? Hell yeah Johnny." Ponyboy said, taking on an icy tone. Johnny looked confused and looked right into his best friend's face.

"What's wrong?" He said bluntly and watched Pony's reaction.

His face was impassive and his eyes cold, he had obviously been keeping his feelings from Johnny about something.

Ponyboy stopped walking and turned to him and snorted.

"What's wrong? You really want to know?"

Johnny frowned at Pony's tone and nodded carefully, his brows furrowed.

"Fine, I'll tell you what's wrong. I can't keep it up; I can't pretend it doesn't matter anymore. You stole my brother!" Ponyboy said disgusted and turned away.

Johnny could tell by his movements that Pony felt hurt, but Johnny also felt hurt. It was like a blow to the back of his head, his temper started rising.

"Well I didn't intentionally do it! Damn, Pony!"

Ponyboy turned to him, his face set in sneer.

"You know, when I wanted you to live with us I didn't think you would try to take my place. Sodapop's MY brother, MINE!" With that Ponyboy stomped off, leaving a shocked Johnny in his wake.

Johnny sighed and punched his fist into the tree beside him, his knuckles started bleeding.

He didn't mean to _steal_ Sodapop from Pony. He didn't crave for Soda's attention at all, Soda was the one insisting he come with him, and he was fun to hang out with.

Maybe Ponyboy was the one who needed to talk to Soda, he was Ponyboy's older brother. Johnny couldn't help it if he wasn't talking to him enough.

Clutching his bloody fist he walked back to the house, he went to the bathroom and started cleaning it in the sink. After he was done he went up to his bed and lied down on it, he really didn't feel like talking to Soda about the problem just yet.

Let Pony ignore him for all he cared. It was only a little fight.

He'd get over it…hopefully.


	6. Making Up

XXXXXX

Sodapop walked out from the back of the station and saw Ponyboy sitting on the counter, where Johnny had previously been.

"Hey Pony." He greeted him, but saw the look on his face and knew something was wrong. He looked around and saw that Johnny was gone.

"What's wrong? Where'd Johnny go?" Soda asked.

Pony winced and looked down at his feet.

"He left." Ponyboy answered.

"Why?"

Pony didn't answer and continued to stare at his feet. Sodapop sighed and leaned against the counter, waiting for him to explain.

"What's wrong Pony?"

Ponyboy sighed and felt a flooding feeling of shame fill him. He shifted awkwardly and looked up at Soda. He knew he had to explain; there was no way out of it.

"Well, you see…I got a bit angry at him and accused him of well…stealing you." He mumbled pathetically and looked back down at his feet.

Pony expected Soda to be angry that he would accuse Johnny of something like that, but when he looked back up, he saw that Sodapop's face was set in disappointment.

"Pony." Soda began and rubbed his forehead. He was very disappointed in his brother to think that. "You know that Johnny takes a little while to get things. I just wanted to make sure that he wasn't too nervous about working here. And I wanted to make sure that he was comfortable living with us."

Pony nodded.

"I'm sorry that I haven't been spending a lot of time with you Pony, I know I've been busy of late with Johnny, I promise I will spend more time with you."

Ponyboy now felt entirely selfish. It wasn't Johnny's fault Soda chose to spend extra time with him.

"The whole thing's my fault. I shouldn't have acting like that. I don't know what came over me."

Soda grinned.

"How do you think I felt when you first came around and mom and dad were giving you all the attention?"

Ponyboy looked at his brother in surprise and he shrugged.

"It's normal to feel left out when the family gets a new addition."

"Yeah...I guess so."

"Want to help me wash some of the cars?" Soda then asked and Pony's face immediately lit up. Soda grinned and the two walked outside, but before they did Pony stopped and turned back to him.

"I think you I should go apologize to Johnny first."

Soda nodded and smiled.

"Go ahead."

"I'll be back in a few minutes."

Soda watched his brother run off. He hoped they didn't have any more fights. Pony arrived back at the house, hoping that Johnny was there and that he would forgive him. They had always been close and now they were practically brothers.

'Forgive and forget.' He thought.

As Ponyboy walked through the front door and into the living room he first noticed that Darry was no longer home. He silently walked to Johnny's room and saw him lying on his bed with a faraway look in his eyes.

Pony timidly went over and rapped on one of the bedposts, leaning over Johnny. Johnny jumped, startled at first and looked up to see Ponyboy standing there.

"What happened to your hand?" Pony asked pleasantly as he gestured to his hand. Johnny grimaced and quickly made up a lie.

"I, err, jammed it in the door by accident."

Pony narrowed his eyes.

"Tell me the truth Johnny." He could always tell when people were lying, like a human lie detector.

"I smashed it into a tree when you left." Johnny mumbled almost apologetically. He looked up abashed and smiled weakly.

Ponyboy closed his eyes and sighed; He grabbed Johnny's wrist and gently pulled his friend to his feet and led him to the bathroom.

In the bathroom, Pony took off the dirtied pieces of tissue paper off Johnny's fist, deposing them in the trash can. He turned the faucet to warm water and cleaned the wound on his knuckles gently. After he finished he wrapped Johnny's hand in a real bandage.

"I take it you talked to Soda?" Johnny asked while thanking Pony for helping him.

"Yeah." He answered.

They walked out of the bathroom and went back to Johnny's room and sat on the bed.

"Johnny, I'm s-" Pony began but was cut off.

"Forget about it Pony." Johnny said. "They say fights make your friendship stronger, I believe that."

Ponyboy smiled.

"So, want to do something?" He asked.

Johnny nodded and grinned mischievously.

"Yeah."

Ponyboy was about to get up but Johnny tackled him off the bed. The wind was knocked out of him when they landed, Johnny on top of him.

Johnny grabbed Ponyboy's wrists and pinned them next to his head.

"Holler uncle." He grinned.

"Never!"

Pony struggled and managed to roll the two of them over and jumped on Johnny and laid there, pinning him down. Johnny struggled until Pony was off and he and Pony rolled around for a few minutes, trying to gain the dominance over the other, yet only celebrating for a moment before the other had regained control and the war would commence once more.

Laughing, the two tumbled around the floor, knowing that later on they'd have ugly bruises to show for their fun.

Their wrestling match ended came to an abrupt hault when they heard the sound of the front door being kicked in.

"Boy!" An angry voice shouted. "I know you're here!"


	7. Discovered

XXXXXX

"Johnny! Where are you! You little shit!"

Ponyboy and Johnny quickly got to their feet and stared at each other in horror. Johnny's dad had found him.

Johnny shut his door as quietly as he could and locked it as he heard his old man starting to wreak the house.

"You haven't done chores in weeks! I'm going to teach you a lesson!" Mr. Cade shouted while flipping over the coffee table and then made his way to the bedrooms. Ponyboy squeezed Johnny's shoulder hard as they heard his footsteps outside, and then jumped when he started pounding his fist against the door.

"Are you in here!"

"What the hell are you doing here!" What are you doing to my house!" Another voice yelled.

Ponyboy and Johnny breathed a sigh of relief. Darry was back. He would take care of this.

"Where's my son?" Mr. Cade seethed.

"I don't have any idea!" Darry said, trying to calm down and failing.

"Don't give me that! I recognized that little bastard he hangs out with and followed him here! Johnny hasn't been home in weeks! My house is a mess!"

"Is that all he is to you?" Darry asked, unable to comprehend how someone could treat their own son that way. "Someone to clean your house and hit when you get drunk?"

"That's none of your damn business! Tell me where he is!"

Darry shook his head.

"I'm not telling you anything."

Mr. Cade immediately rushed at Darry and punched him in the gut. He fell on the ground and, before Darry could get up, Mr. Cade put his foot against his neck.

"Where is my son?" He growled and let his guard down. Darry used his leg to trip him and he fell on to the floor. Darry pushed himself up quickly and they both got up. Mr. Cade ran at Darry, who sidestepped the attack and punched him in the ribs. Mr. Cade punched at Darry's face, but Darry dodged it and gave him an uppercut to the chin which sent him back down to the floor.

Mr. Cade kicked Darry in the groin and he fell to the floor in pain. Mr. Cade then began slamming his fist into Darry's face.

Johnny carefully opened the door and saw his dad fighting with Darry. He looked up when he heard the door open.

"There you are! Wait until I get my hands on you!"

Mr. Cade got up and tried to run over to Johnny but Darry grabbed his ankle and pulled him down and the fight began again.

Johnny ran back into the room.

"Pony we have to help Darry!"

Ponyboy looked around the room for any weapons, seeing nothing until he spotted Sodapop's old baseball bat in the closet, behind Johnny's suitcase. Ponyboy then ran out of the room and saw his brother and Johnny's old man swinging their fists wildly.

Mr. Cade finally nailed Darry with a right hook and sent him down. Before he could get up Johnny swung and cracked the baseball bat against his fathers head. His dad dropped to the floor, a huge lump already starting to form on his head.

Johnny was unable to take his eyes off his father. He dropped down slowly and grabbed his wrist, making sure he had a pulse. Ponyboy helped Darry to his feet and led him to the chair.

"Are you okay Darry?" Ponyboy asked, eyes full of concern as he looked at the bruises on his face.

"Yeah," Darry said, then winced.

Ponyboy ran to the bathroom to get the first-aid kit. Darry looked up to see that Johnny was still staring down at his old man.

"Johnny? You okay?"

Johnny swallowed and nodded, slowly backing away and sat down on the couch. Ponyboy ran back into the living room and attended to Darry's bleeding mouth and nose.

"I can't believe I did that," Johnny said quitely.

"Johnny it's okay," Ponyboy said.

"No...do you know how long I've been wanting to do that?" Johnny looked up at them and grinned. Ponyboy and despite himself, Darry grinned back at him.

"Good for you little buddy."

They all got to their feet and looked down at Mr. Cade's unconscious body.

"Now what?" Ponyboy asked.

Darry thought for a second.

"Let's call the police." He said. Darry then looked over at Johnny. "Maybe we can get him out of your life for good."


	8. Pain Redefined

XXXXXX

Ten minutes went by after Ponyboy had called the police who had finally arrived. Darry was pressing charges and they took Johnny's father away. After that Sodapop came home and Ponyboy told him what happened, Darry called the social worker, Mrs. Williams to come speak to them.

They cleaned up the mess Johnny's father had made the best they could and were playing cards in the living room waiting for her arrival.

When the doorbell rang, everything just stopped. No one ever rang the doorbell at the Curtis house, you could just walk right it. Sodapop scrambled to his feet, dropping his cards in his rush to let Mrs. Williams in.

Darry squeezed Johnny's shoulder.

"Don't be nervous, she's really nice."

"Thank you Sodapop," Mrs. Williams said as she walked through the entrance. She had on a nice jacket and skirt, and she was holding a pile of papers.

"Hello Darry, Ponyboy."

"Mrs. Williams," Darry said, shaking her hand. She then looked down at Johnny. "Is this the young man you were telling me about on the phone?"

"He is."

"Hello Johnny," she said.

"Hi." Johnny said shyly.

"Why don't we all go to the kitchen to discuss things?" Darry suggested. They all followed him and Darry, Johnny, and Mrs. Williams took their seats while Ponyboy and Sodapop sat on the counter.

"Well, uh...where do we start?" Johnny asked.

Mrs. Williams read through a few of the papers she'd had brought with her and said, "Well let's start at the beginning. Can you tell me how long abuse has occurred at your home?"

Johnny thought for a moment.

"The first time I remember being hit was when I was six."

Sodapop gasped, Ponyboy looked down at the floor, and Darry just looked angry. Johnny continued, "I spilled milk on the floor trying to get breakfast for myself. My dad smacked me over the head and sent me to my room without food."

Mrs. Williams had gone slightly white.

"I see, and you would be kept there as a punishment?"

Johnny nodded. "Yes I was, they would send me to my room for the rest of the day and I'd have to sneak out at night to get food."

"They didn't give you any food when you were in your room?"

Johnny swallowed, "No, they wouldn't." Darry clenched his fist which made Johnny flinch slightly. Darry rested a hand on Johnny's shoulder, "I'm sorry Johnny I didn't mean to scare you."

Mrs. Williams put down her files and asked, "Johnny would you like to stop?"

Johnny shook his head no.

"It's easier for me to keep going now that I've started."

Ponyboy and Sodapop looked close to tears.

"How often were you hit?" Mrs. Williams asked.

Johnny sighed.

"It depends on if my old man had been drinking or not. If he didn't drink he usually left me alone but when he got drunk…" Johnny trailed off.

Mrs. Williams spoke up again, "What about your mother Johnny?"

"What about her?"

"Well, did she ever mistreat you in any way?"

"She never really paid much attention to me when I was young. When she did it was usually to yell at me. But she never hit me."

"She never tried to stop your father?"

Johnny shook his head no.

"All right Johnny I have a few more questions for you." Mrs. Williams swallowed. "Did your father ever hit you with any other than his fists?"

"Yes, he used his belt it he felt I'd done something really bad that deserved more punishment. It didn't happen too often because he was afraid if I had a lot of scars people would start asking questions."

"Johnny I am very sorry about what you had to go through, and I promise you that I will do everything within my power to see that your father is punished for his actions. Now I am going to come back in another week or so to get some more details for your father's trial, all right?"

Johnny nodded.

Mrs. Williams sniffed. She got up and shook everyone's hands and left.

Ponyboy pulled Johnny into a hug,

"Johnny I'm so sorry you had to grow up like that, I hope your dad gets what's coming to him."

Johnny hugged Ponyboy back. After a minute they let each other go.

"Thanks you guys, for letting me live here," he said.

Darry made sure both Pony and Johnny ate dinner and insisted Johnny take a sleeping pill before he went to bed that night.

Johnny was relieved that Ponyboy stayed with him that night, it made him feel better that after having to go through all that his best friend was going to stay with him to give him the comfort he needed right now.


	9. Verdict Is In

XXXXXX

After two days of testifying, the Judge had called everyone back into court. Neither side bothered with a closing argument, Mrs. Williams thought the evidence spoke for itself and Mr. Cade's lawyer probably couldn't think of a way to excuse his behavior without some kind of miracle.

Johnny's father was being charged with child neglect, child endangerment, emotional abuse, and not to mention breaking and entering charges.

Johnny sat nervously with Darry, Sodapop, and Ponyboy in the gallery as the jury entered the court room.

Judge Russo asked,

"Has the jury reached a verdict?"

The foreperson a small woman in her mid forties answered, "We have your honor."

Judge Russo gestured to Mr. Cade,

"Will the defendant will please rise."

Mr. Cade and his lawyer stood and Judge Russo asked, "How do you find?"

The foreperson took a deep breath and said, "We the jury find the Defendant Francis James Cade guilty on all charges."

Johnny sighed in relief as Ponyboy smiled at him and the judge started speaking again.

"Mr. Cade, I am sentencing you to five years in a correctional facility. While you are there you will undergo therapy and anger management. Further more upon your release you will be on probation for three years, during that time you will continue to continue therapy and perform 400 hours of community service."

Frank at that point had gone white.

"You can't do that."

Mrs. Williams gave Frank a scolding look as Judge Russo said, "Oh yes I can." He banged his gavel and left as Frank was starting to be led out by two officers.

They all turned as Frank seemed to snap out of his stupor, "No, what are you doing? It isn't my fault I tell you it isn't my fault it's him." Frank pointed an accusing finger at Johnny, "It's all his fault! If he weren't such a delinquent I wouldn't have lost my temper so much. You have to listen to me it wasn't my fault it's him all him. I didn't do anything wrong I didn't!"

As the court room door closed and their voices disappeared Johnny sank heavily into his chair, this was all too much he couldn't handle this right now it was too much.

Mrs. Williams walked over and shook Darry's hand.

"Thank you Mrs. Williams," he said.

"Your welcome Darry, go home and get some rest."

Johnny sighed and Ponyboy pulled him into a hug. Johnny shuddered, "Can we go now? I need to get out of here." Darry nodded, "Yes Johnny, lets go."

The ride home was a quite one. Johnny was happy that his old man was finally out of his life, but there was a little part of him that wondered if he truly deserved the punishment he had gotten. Darry seemed to sense his distress and spoke.

"Johnny this is the law and it may seem harsh, but your father was a disgusting man and what he did to you is inexcusable. You are not responsible either for his actions or the punishment. This is how the law says he is to be punished there is nothing you can do to change it."

Johnny swallowed and nodded.

When they arrived home, Johnny went to his room. He was so exhausted, that when he threw himself down on the bed he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. It had indeed been a very long day.

Once they were back in the living room, everyone sat down on the couch. After a few moments of silence Ponyboy said, "So what now?"

Sodapop considered it for a moment.

"How about we throw a party?" He said jokingly.

"Not tonight, I think we've all had enough for one day, how about tomorrow?"

The expression on Darry's face showed he was half joking and Soda smirked,

"Absolutely."

The three of them went into the kitchen for a very quiet dinner and did each made a silent promise to do whatever they would to protect Johnny from any more pain.


	10. Football Game

XXXXXX

Johnny kicked a few rocks as he, Sodapop, and Steve walked down the sidewalk to the gas station, preparing for an afternoon shift.

The part time job had really helped Johnny when it came to being around others. Although he was still shy deep down, his self confidence had improved a lot. Plus it didn't hurt that Soda and Steve were always around.

After the summer ended, Johnny had to go back to school on a full time basis, the only part of the conditions that came with living with Curtis's he hated, even though living with them was paradise compared to his previous living environment.

It wasn't the "that's him" looks he would receive from the other kids, especially the socs who remembered what happened with Bob Sheldon a year ago, it was that Johnny knew how Darry was with Ponyboy about grades and was worried that he would end up disappointing him.

However, as things got started, Darry made it quite clear that he wasn't expecting straight A's from Johnny.

"Just try your best," Johnny remembered Darry saying.

Darry would check his and Ponyboy's homework every night after dinner and always made sure they studied for tests. And though he was still far away from a straight A student, he was doing better in school than he ever did before.

As the three of them reached the DX, Johnny ran, slid over the counter, and landed on the other side of it, right in front of the cash register.

Soda applauded and Johnny grinned and took a bow.

There was already a miniscule line waiting and a few of the good-humored ones clapped along with Soda. The bitchy and pissy people just stood there.

Johnny started ringing up their things, smiling at the people who clapped and giving the once-over to the people who deprived him of applause.

He looked out the window and saw Sodapop was now pumping someone's gas, and Steve was under the hood of a car. Johnny turned back around when he noticed a girl near the counter.

"Hello," she said.

"Hi," Johnny answered. She didn't give him anything to ring up.

"Not buying anything?" He asked. She shook her head and looked out at a boy who was signaling to her to come out.

The girl hurried out of the station and Johnny brows furrowed, feeling that he recognized the girl from somewhere.

After they got done with work they met up with Ponyboy, Dally, and Two-Bit on the field for a quick game of football.

It was Sodapop, Two-Bit, and Ponyboy against Dally, Steve, and Johnny.

Soda kicked the football and it went flying across the field right into Dally's arms. Dally quickly passed it to Johnny as the two teams collided together.

Dally and Steve tried to block Soda and Two-Bit from getting to Johnny. This left Ponyboy to tackle Johnny. Johnny somehow managed to make his way through the line of chaos and was sprinting to the end zone.

Johnny was getting winded and couldn't keep up with his speed and slowed down. Ponyboy found this opportunity to try and take down Johnny. Being the fastest runner, Pony easily caught up to Johnny's small pace of sprinting.

"Run faster damn it!" Dally yelled as he saw Pony gaining up on Johnny.

Ponyboy jumped towards and caught Johnny. He brought him down to the ground with him, stopping him from scoring a touchdown.

The rest of the gang crowded around them.

"Nice job Pony!" Soda said.

After the game ended, Dally and Two-Bit starting rolling around the ground, fighting over the ball.

"Let go of the damn ball!"

"You let go Dally!"

Sodapop shook his head and looked over at Ponyboy and Johnny.

"Come on guys, let's go home."


	11. Night on the Town

XXXXXX

After dinner, Ponyboy and Johnny stood outside in the backyard watching the sun go down while smoking their cigarettes.

"So, you gonna come to the movies with us tonight?" Ponyboy asked. "Dally wants to go, he's been really bored lately."

Johnny shrugged.

"I don't know."

Ponyboy looked over at him.

"What's wrong man?"

"Nothing. Just tired."

"Johnny, you gotta come with us tonight. You haven't been yourself lately," Pony said.

"I know. I've had a lot of schoolwork to do. I've been having trouble in English."

"Well that doesn't matter, your coming with us. We're leaving at eight."

"Who's coming?" Johnny asked.

"Dally, Two-Bit, me, and you."

"Soda and Steve aren't going?"

"Nope. They're going somewhere else tonight."

They walked back in the house and hung out in the living room for about two hours while waiting for Dally.

Soda and Steve were playing cards while Ponyboy and Johnny sat on the floor, watching television. Darry and Two-Bit were arm wrestling beside them and Johnny knew that if Two-Bit won, Darry would accidentally hit him. It's a good thing Darry never lost.

"You need to grease your hair again." Ponyboy told Johnny.

Johnny went to the bathroom and saw how bad it was and greased it back and sighed.

"Soda, tell your brother to go easy on me!" Two-Bit demanded, losing another time.

Soda swatted Darry on the back of the head and he tackled him, putting him in a headlock.

"No fair." Soda said, trying to pull away. He felt like a mouse in a trap.

"Stop struggling." Steve said, joining Darry by grabbing Soda's legs.

The two picked him up as Soda continued to struggle. They tossed Sodapop on the couch and he hit Pony in the head with his foot.

"Come on, Two-Bit. We need to get going." Pony said, rubbing his head.

"Dally still isn't here." Two-Bit pointed out.

"Where is he?"

"I'm right here," Dally said, walking through the front door.

"Where you been?" Pony asked.

"None of your business," Dally said. "So, everyone ready?"

"Are we going to the drive through or the theater?" Johnny asked.

"Theater." Dally answered.

"Be back by ten," Darry said to Pony and Johnny. "You guys have school tomorrow."

Ponyboy nodded and walked out the front door with Dally, Johnny, and Two-Bit. They made their way to the Dingo, walking to the back to go through the gaping hole in the fence.

"Ladies first," Dally said to Two-Bit and elbowed him in the ribs. Two-Bit glared at him for a second before crawling through the hole.

Once they got into the theater and took their seats Ponyboy started to shovel popcorn into his mouth.

"Geez Pony, don't forget to breath!"

Two-Bit started to fiddle with his coat and pulled out a bottle of beer.

"I can't believe you snuck that in here." Pony tried to keep his voice down.

"Oh come on, I do this all the time. The ushers are too stupid to notice." Two-Bit said about to open it but Dally reached over and smacked it out of his hand. The bottle hit the ground and began to roll away.

"No! My beer!" Two-Bit shouted.

"That will go all the way to the front buddy, you'd better go and catch it," Dally smirked.

Two-Bit stood up and pushed past Ponyboy and Johnny, and ran down to the screen. After fumbling around in the dark for a minute he came upon what he was looking for.

"Got it!" He yelled holding up the bottle for all to see.

Johnny shook his head and sank down lower into his seat. Just then a group of girls walked passed them.

"Nice ass," Dally commented to one of them.

The girl turned around and glared at him.

"Filthy greaser," she spat and stormed away.

"What I say?" Dally asked Ponyboy, who was cringing. "She loves me, you can tell."

"Why do you always have to cause trouble?" Two-Bit said as he sat back down.

"Oh, shut the hell up." Dally picked up a piece of candy from the floor and threw it at Two-Bit. It bounced wonderfully off his forehead.

"Bet you can't do that again." Two-Bit challenged.

"Don't blink!" Dally bent down to retrieve another candy. At that moment Two-Bit threw a large handful of popcorn, not really caring who got hit.

That was all it took to start the fight. Ponyboy and Two-Bit held their buckets of popcorn to their chests as they dove over chairs, throwing popcorn at each other.

After about five minutes a bright light interrupted the fight. The guys looked up to see an old grey haired man holding a flashlight.

"I'm afraid I am going to have to ask you to leave."

Two ushers escorted the group out of the building. "Well that was fun!" Dally said, glaring in Two-Bit's direction.

"You started it!" He protested.

"So what are we going to do now?" Johnny asked.

"Well I'm not spending the rest of the night bumming around the streets, that's for sure." Dally huffed leaning back against the movie theater wall.

"We could go to Dairy Queen and cause trouble there." Two-Bit offered.

"All right," Dally said.

"I think I'm going to call it a night," Pony said.

"Yeah, me too," Johnny agreed.

"Alright, see you guys later." Two-Bit and Dally turned and walked across the street.

Ponyboy and Johnny turned the corner and walked down the sidewalk, making their way to the Curtis house.

"You know, if you're having trouble in English I can help you," Pony offered.

Before Johnny could respond a scream coming from the vacant lot made them both stop dead in their tracks. They ran over as fast as they could to see a girl get shoved to the ground by two socs.

"Hey!" Ponyboy yelled catching their attention. He looked over at Johnny who nodded at him and they began running towards them.

"Get away from her!"

"This is none of your business greaser!" One of the socs yelled.

Ponyboy growled through his teeth and lunged forward, tackling one of them to the ground and began punching him.

"Bastard!" The soc cursed as Pony's fist made contact with the side of his face. Before the other soc could help his friend, Johnny dove on him and the two rolled around on the ground. The soc's fist made contact with Johnny's mouth and they separated from each other.

In the split second that his guard was down, Johnny dug his knee up into the soc's stomach. After that, they both hightailed out of there.

Johnny looked over at the girl still on the ground, trembling a little. He looked at her a little closer…he recognized her from somewhere.

The brown haired girl pushed herself up to her feet.

"Thank you." She said quietly and ran from the lot.

"Hey, wait!" Pony yelled but she ignored him and kept running. He sighed and went over to Johnny and grabbed his arm, pulling him to his feet.

"Do you know who she was?" Pony asked.

"I think she's in my English class."

Pony looked over at Johnny who shrugged and continued walking, remaining quite for the rest of the walk to the house.


	12. Johnny's Crush

XXXXXX

"I'm very disappointed with some of you, as your English marks are below average. Although some did do well in this test," began Mr. Douglas, as Johnny sat at his desk starring up at the clock, counting down the minutes.

Johnny hated English. It was the only class he didn't have with either Ponyboy or Two-Bit. Steve was now in his senior year, Sodapop dropped out, and Dally didn't even go to school anymore.

Mr. Douglas went around the classroom giving all the students their tests on "The Great Gatsby" back. When he finally got to Johnny he laid his test face down.

Johnny sighed and turned it over and saw they he got a 72.

'Better than I expected,' Johnny thought.

"So, since I'm such a nice guy, for the next twenty minutes I want you all to partner up and do test corrections. You will get half your points back for every wrong answer."

Johnny sighed as everyone else partnered up. It was days like this he wished Ponyboy and him were in the same class.

"Johnny, why don't you work with Elizabeth?" Mr. Douglas said, seeing they both didn't have a partner.

"Who?"

Despite being in the class for months, he still didn't know anyone's name.

Johnny turned his head and look over, looking at the last seat in the back row. His eyes widened when he saw the brown haired girl walking toward him. It was her, the same girl that he and Pony saved from the socs last night.

He snapped out of his thoughts when Elizabeth pushed a desk against his and sat down.

"Hi," she greeted.

Johnny swallowed nervously. "Hi,"

"So what did you get on the test?" she asked.

"Uh…72," Johnny managed to say.

"Well, at least you passed. I got a 95 and the only two questions I missed were true or false, you can just copy down my answers so we don't have to waste time going through the book."

When Elizabeth handed Johnny her test, her hand lightly brushed against his and Johnny nearly froze.

"Thank you," Johnny said.

For the next few minutes they sat in silence as Johnny scribbled down the answers as fast as he could.

"You know," Elizabeth began. "That was very brave of you last night. Thank you for helping me."

Johnny slowly lifted his head and looked at her.

"I thought I recognized you," Johnny said while handing Elizabeth back her test. "You were at the DX that day too."

She nodded, but before they could say anything else Mr. Douglas spoke.

"Alright class, time's up. Everyone move back to your original seats."

For the rest of class Johnny couldn't concentrate as his mind was still on Elizabeth. When the final bell rang, Johnny shoved his things into his backpack and exited the classroom as fast as he could. He waited outside for a minute for Ponyboy to come out and they began walking home.

"Did you're class get your tests back today?" Ponyboy asked.

"Yeah," Johnny grumbled under his breath.

"How did you do?"

"Horribly,"

Pony couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

"Why didn't you read the book?"

"I did read it…some of it."

"Okay, I'll help you out with English before your next test. It's perfect since you don't work much over the next two weeks. Less distractions."

Before they could continue their conversation, a car's horn went off, making them both jump.

Ponyboy and Johnny spun around and saw Two-Bit's car pull up beside them and Two-Bit laughing uproariously.

"Two-Bit!" Pony growled.

"Get in," Two-Bit laughed.

They both shook their heads and got in the car, Johnny sitting up with Two-Bit in the front. Two-Bit looked over and saw that Johnny was breathing a little heavy.

"Sorry kiddo." Two-Bit said. He didn't mean to scare Johnny that bad.

"It's okay,"

Johnny walked into the house alone because Pony asked Two-Bit to take him to the DX to buy a Pepsi. He walked in to see Soda sitting on the couch watching television.

"Hey buddy," Soda greeted.

"Hey," he responded softly and walked into the kitchen, getting himself a glass of water. Sodapop soon walked in.

"Are you okay?" Soda asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"I don't know. You've been quieter than usual. And the other day you seemed weird when we were playing football. You kept getting tackled."

Johnny took a deep breath.

"Well…you see there's a problem with this girl at school," Johnny said.

Soda's face instantly lit up. "Ohh, Johnny do you got yourself a girl?"

"Nah, it ain't like that," Johnny replied "It's just I really like her but I have no clue how to get her."

"So you wanna ask her out." Soda said

Johnny nodded.

"Well it's simple. Just walk right up to her and ask her to the movies," Sodapop replied calmly.

"But what if she says no? I'll look like a loser," Johnny said cautiously.

"Well then just ask her cool and mysteriously. She won't resist, after all you're a good looking kid," Soda said.

"Okay, but just make sure you don't tell Pony."

Just then Ponyboy walked into the house to see Soda come looping out of the kitchen with a big grin. Pony looked at him, puzzled.

"What's up with you?" Pony asked.

Soda shook his head. "Seems our buddy Johnny, has got himself a fancy."

"Oh he does?" Ponyboy grinned.

"SODA!" Johnny yelled from the kitchen

Soda spun around to face the kitchen door, than turned back to Ponyboy, looking a little guilty. "I wasn't supposed to tell you." He said.

Pony frowned. "Why not?"

Johnny then walked out of the kitchen.

"Johnny why didn't you want me to know?" Pony asked a little hurt.

"Cause, I was afraid you would get mad," Johnny stated.

Ponyboy raised an eyebrow.

"Now why in the world would I be angry with my buddy getting a girl?"

Johnny shrugged.

"Well, I know how you've been really wanting me to do well in school, I thought that you would think me having a girl would take time away from my schoolwork." Johnny said looking down at his feet.

"Don't worry Johnny we're real happy for you. Now you go to school tomorrow and show that girl what a tuff greaser you are!" Soda exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Pony agreed.

"Okay, okay...I'll ask her to the movies." Johnny said rolling his eyes at his friend's excitement.


	13. What Women Want

XXXXXX

Johnny hadn't slept much the night before. He was thinking about how to approach the girl he liked at school.

He'd thought about how everyone else in the gang approached girls. Apart from him, everyone else seemed to have no trouble talking to girls.

He thought how Dally would approach girls-tough, calm, sure of himself, sometimes rude. Ponyboy was nice and charming, Two-Bit cracked jokes. Darry was himself, occasionally flexing his muscles. Steve was really sweet and full of compliments. Soda didn't even have to look at a girl, he was so good looking, the girls fell over themselves to get to him. Johnny wished he could be like anyone of them.

The five minute bell rang and Johnny snapped out of his daydream state, shut his locker and turned to walk towards his class. Just as he turned around, he saw her and his heart skipped a beat. Her long, straight brown hair was tied back in a red ribbon.

Johnny froze, unable to move as she began to walk in his direction, surrounded by her friends. Her soft green eyes were warm and laughing.

As she walked past, without thinking, Johnny grabbed for her arm and pulled her away from her friends.

"What-" Elizabeth looked a little shocked.

Her friends noticed she was missing and turned around, staring at her and Johnny.

"Hi." Johnny said and blushed.

"Hello." Elizabeth replied, than waited for him to speak again.

Johnny opened and closed his mouth, his nerves taking hold of him, he looked at the ground feeling like a complete idiot. Why was it so hard to talk to a girl? Ponyboy was just as quite and he had seen him speak easily to Cherry Valance millions of times.

"What is it, Johnny?" Elizabeth asked softly.

"I…umm...I just wanted to..." Johnny glanced at her friends standing just a few steps away, waiting patiently for her. "I just wanted to talk to you."

"What about?"

"I...You have really pretty eyes." Johnny blurted out nervously.

She laughed softly. "Thank you, Johnny. I like your eyes too." Her smile was gentle and kind.

He just stared at her, not sure how to react or what to say.

"Have you heard about the school dance that's coming up?" Elizabeth asked.

Johnny nodded.

"Are you…taking anyone?" Elizabeth inquired.

"No, I wasn't going to go." Johnny answered truthfully.

"Oh, that's a shame." Elizabeth looked into his eyes. "I don't have anyone to go with."

Johnny didn't know why she'd told him that and was confused why someone like her wouldn't have someone to take her to a dance.

The late bell rang and Johnny panicked. He'd never been late to class in his life.

"I better go." He stammered, than began walking to his class.

"See you later." Elizabeth said and watched as he walked away.

She rejoined her friends.

"What did he want?" Laurie asked.

"I'm not sure. He said he wanted to talk. I hinted for him to ask me to the dance but I don't think he got it."

Her friends laughed.

"I thought he was supposed to be the smart one." Laurie commented.

Elizabeth glanced over her shoulder, Johnny had disappeared around the corner. "He is the smart one. And despite what others say, I think he's the cute one too."

When it was time to go to lunch, Johnny treaded his feet as he walked from school to the DX. He and Ponyboy were going to meet up with Sodapop for lunch.

Kicking up the dust as he thought about what Elizabeth had said. Johnny was in a daze, her words running through his head,

_"You have really pretty eyes too."_

Then all of a sudden a blue mustang pulled up beside him. "Not now." Johnny said under his breath as he began to run as fast as he could but running was useless compared to the speed of the mustang.

Two socs got out of the car and chased him until they threw him to the ground and started hitting and kicking him. Before he knew it someone had pulled the socs off him. Johnny looked up and saw Sodapop and Ponyboy fighting with them.

Johnny got to his feet and ran over and helped Ponyboy out by throwing a couple punches at the soc he was fighting. After a minute the socs took off and Johnny took a deep breath and dusted the dirt off his shirt.

You okay?" Soda asked in his softest voice.

"Yeah I'm fine. You guys got here just in time."

"Soooo, did you talk to the girl yet?" Soda asked like nothing had just happened and was only concerned with the girl at school.

Johnny groaned.

"Not to well."

"Why? What happened did she say no?" Ponyboy asked worried.

"Not exactly," Johnny said, "I didn't really ask her. All she said was if I was going to the dance."

"And what did you say?" Pony asked impatiently.

"I said I wasn't sure if I was going."

Sodapop and Ponyboy grinned at each other.

"You dimwit," Soda said putting Johnny in a headlock and rubbing his knuckles on his head while laughing.

"What?"

"She wanted you to ask her to the dance!" Ponyboy said as Soda let Johnny go.

Johnny shook his head.

"Damn, I'm so stupid,"

"Don't worry. Just ask her at the end of the day."

After lunch, Johnny walked through the corridor at school, nervous. His mind continuously replayed the words Elizabeth had said the day before and as Johnny caught sight of her at her locker, he prayed Sodapop and Ponyboy were right.

As he approached, his nerves on edge, Elizabeth smiled warmly at him.

"Hi, Johnny." She greeted him before he reached her.

"Hey..." He stood looking at her for a moment before speaking again.

"Uh, Elizabeth...can I ask you something?"

Elizabeth smiled. "Sure."

"Ponyboy said you wanted me to ask you to the dance." Johnny blurted out.

Elizabeth giggled a little, making Johnny feel extremely uncomfortable.

"I don't want you to do anything you don't want to do." Elizabeth replied.

"I want to!" Johnny answered a little too quickly.

Elizabeth smiled at him. "Then I would love it if you took me."

Johnny felt his neck, ears and face burn and turn scarlet. Elizabeth stepped closer to him and kissed him on the cheek, then walked off with her friends close behind her, still giggling and whispering.

Johnny stood in the corridor, frozen. He wasn't sure if what had just happened was real or not.


	14. Dance and a Kiss

XXXXXX

Johnny ran from the school as quickly as he could to tell Ponyboy the news.

He still could not believe he had actually summoned up the courage to ask a girl to a dance. He had never done anything like that. Soon he arrived back at the Curtis house, letting out a sigh as he entered, knowing full well the barrage of questions Ponyboy would no doubt be asking. Sure enough his fears came true.

"So did you ask her?" Pony excitedly asked as soon as he entered.

"Yes"

"And? What did she say?"

Johnny took a moment, more so to build the suspense in him, bowing his head some to give him the wrong impression. It worked.

"She said no?" Ponyboy asked.

"No…she said yes" Johnny looked up with a big smile on his face

"That's great!"

"I'm tired so I am going to go to bed early tonight" Johnny yawned, he just wanted to get to the next day as soon as possible, just so he could see her again. However, it was easier said then done.

Elizabeth was so on his mind that he couldn't fall asleep and finally had to take a few pills to knock him out. He had never felt like this before, once he was in bed again he got comfortable as his eyelids grew heavy.

Finally...he fell asleep.

XXXXXX

Finally came the night of the dance.

Johnny left the house and arrived at Elizabeth's place and knocked on the door hiding his hands behind his back, waiting for a reply.

He was dressed in a pair of black slackers, a white dress shirt with a coat over it. Johnny didn't have to wait long as Liz answered the door, looking stunning. She wore a dark blue dress, the neck line and sleeves made from a see through material. In her ears were silver earrings that looked like leaves.

Johnny was at a loss of words as he looked her over, almost forgetting the gift he had bought her.

"You look amazing." was all he could say.

"Thank you, Johnny." Liz smiled.

"Um…this is for you." He said.

Brining his hands out from behind his back he handed her a dozen red roses Sodapop had given him to give to Elizabeth.

"Thank you."

Liz smiled as she accepted the flowers. Taking a moment to smell the roses before placing them in an empty glass that was on her desk, soon they were off, walking towards the school.

Everyone at the school was excited. The school had gone all out, actually hiring an official band to play in the auditorium for the students.

Decorations were hung up everywhere, red hearts, pink hearts, card board cut outs of cupid on a string having from the ceiling. At the far end of the room was a series of tables, with drinks and snacks on them. To the far right were chairs for the students to sit on when they got tired of dancing.

Johnny and Liz entered the auditorium, her arm wrapped in Johnny's as a gentleman would normally escort a girl.

The two made their way through the crowd of people to the chairs and sat down as they waited for the music to start playing, both were nervous, never having done anything like this before, but each others presence had given them strength to move on.

Soon the band started playing and couples all around the room started dancing, but the two remained there in their seats. There was something about the music that they couldn't quiet figure out, but it didn't seem right to dance to it.

At that time a song started playing, Johnny mustered up enough courage and got up and turned to Liz, extending his hand to her.

"Want to dance?" he asked her. She didn't say a word as she accepted his hand and stood up, allowing him to lead her to the dance floor.

Taking her in his hands, he brushed away all fear and let his feet do the walking. Though it was the first time either of them had danced they had no trouble keeping in time with each other or the music.

As the music picked up its tempo, so did Johnny, as he twirled her around. One would think that they were professionals as the blocked out everyone around them, only focusing on each other, they didn't even notice that everyone else had stopped dancing to watch them as a spot light followed their every movement. Soon the song was over, but without a pause went into a slower song.

The lights in the room dimmed creating an atmosphere. Johnny pulled Liz closer to him, holding her by her hips as she wrapped her arms about his neck, resting her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes. She felt, comfortable in his arms, more secure then she had ever felt.

For once, Johnny didn't feel scared as he danced with her. Liz lifted up her head and looked at him, gazing into his eyes, feeling them come closer.

Johnny had done the same, trapped in her eyes as the lights bounced off them as both of them drew closer together until finally their lips met, closing their eyes not knowing what exactly was going on, both following instinct and enjoying the moment.

The room erupted with applause, throwing the two out of their trance as they looked around. Everyone was looking at them, clapping their hands.

"All right Johnny!" came Ponyboy's voice from somewhere in the crowd. The sudden focus of attention caused the two to blush furiously. Looking at each other they grinned and made their way off the dance floor.

Having enough fun for the night, they left.

Johnny slowly made his way back to the Curtis house, the light air crisp in his lungs as he breathed it in, despite the slight chill in the air it was a good light for walking.

His hands in his pockets as he walked along, his thoughts replaying the previous nights events, the dance, the walk home, Elizabeth.

Everything around him seemed to fade away as his thoughts focused on her. A feeling of dread fell over him as he realized that no doubt Sodapop and Steve would tease him mercilessly when they found out.

Lost deep in his thoughts he didn't notice he was home until he ran into the door, literally.

He opened the door and walked to into the house. Quietly, he changed for bed and dropped down on the mattress. Closing his eyes, Johnny fell fast asleep.


	15. The Scars Remind Us

XXXXXX

The next day Johnny woke up to the smell of breakfast being made. Pushing the covers off himself, Johnny sat up and rubbed his eyes, sighing heavily when he realized he had to go to school today. The only upside was that today was Friday and he would get to see Elizabeth.

Memories of the dance came back to him as he got to his feet and walked into the kitchen to see Sodapop cooking breakfast. Immediately upon seeing him, Soda stopped what he was doing and grinned at him.

"Hey Johnny,"

"Hey,"

"Are you hungry?"

"No, I was just looking for Ponyboy."

"He's still getting dressed."

Johnny observed Sodapop closer, noticing how happy he looked.

"What are you so happy about?" He asked.

Soda's grin only widened.

"Pony told me what you did last night."

"So what?" Johnny said, starting to blush.

"I told you flowers would work!"

Johnny shook his head.

"Tell Ponyboy that I'm waiting for him outside."

Johnny walked out the door and hooked his thumbs in his pockets, kicking a few rocks on the ground as he waited for Pony. After a minute went by, the door opened and someone pounced on him from behind.

Ponyboy had Johnny pinned to the ground, one knee digging into his back, hand pushing his face into the dirt. "Say uncle," Pony said triumphantly.

"No," Johnny refused, even as dirt came into his mouth.

"Say it!"

Pony pressed Johnny's head further. Johnny was overly aware of the fingers tangling in his hair, and the dirt against his cheek. The situation looked bad, but Johnny could take control if…

Johnny slowly moved his right arm around out of Pony's line of vision, and grabbed his hand tight enough to catch him by surprise. Then he jerked Ponyboy's hand out from under him, bringing the brown haired boy's weight down on him. He summoned up enough strength for a round of kicks and punches, before coming out on top.

Grabbing a hand full of dirt, Johnny rubbed it on Ponyboy's face before finally standing up and brushing his clothes off.

"Help me up!" Pony said. Johnny sighed and grabbed his hand, helping Ponyboy to his feet and the two began walking to school.

"Why did you tell Soda that me and Liz kissed last night?" Johnny asked.

"He got it out of me. What kind of flowers did he get you to give to Liz?"

"Roses,"

"He got me sunflowers to give to my date," Pony said as they walked up to the main entrance of the school.

"I don't have anything to do tomorrow, want to go the movies?" Johnny asked.

"Sure, see you later." Pony said.

After the bell rang, and school officially began in no time at all he was in gym class with Two-Bit.

"Hey, Johnny. Have I ever mentioned to you how cute you look in gym shorts?" Two-Bit said, trying to hook his arm around him.

"Shut up Two-Bit," Johnny said pushing him away.

A whistle suddenly blew and the students attention turned to Coach Conroy, their gym teacher.

"Today, we'll be playing dodgeball," he announced. "So line up and I'll divide you up."

As Coach Conroy walked down the line of students, Johnny and Two-Bit quickly lined up, making sure to get someone in between them so that they would be on the same side.

A minute later, the dodgeballs were lined up on a black line dividing the room.

TWEET!

Johnny knew better and stayed back as the rest of them surged forward with various war cries and seized the red foam balls, chucking them at their nearest opponent. In ten seconds, half of the kids were out.

"Eat foam, Sylvia!" Two-Bit shouted as he chucked the ball at the black haired greaser girl. With a small, "Oof!" Sylvia went down, holding her stomach. She crawled away to the sidelines as two her teammates, each wielding two dodge balls simultaneously threw their weapons. Two-Bit dove out of the way, but one ball caught his leg. He swore loudly as he got to his feet and headed to the sidelines.

Before Johnny could pick up one of the balls, one sailed through the air and hit his back. He spun around and saw Elizabeth smiling at him on the other end of the gym. Johnny smiled back as he walked to the sidelines.

When it was time for lunch, instead of heading to the DX like he normally did, Johnny went to the cafeteria. He and Elizabeth sat across from each other at one of the tables.

"Do you read much Johnny?" Liz asked.

"No, not really." He shrugged.

"What's your favorite book?"

Johnny thought back to the week he spent with Ponyboy at the church.

"Gone with the Wind,"

"I heard that Mr. Douglas is going to be assigning a group writing project to our class. Three people to a group, so were going to have to work with someone else." Liz said.

"Yeah, I wish Ponyboy was in our class."

"Ponyboy? Isn't he the one who's brother works at the DX?"

Johnny nodded.

"They look so alike."

"Yeah they do."

"What about that other guy you were hanging out with in gym."

"That's Two-Bit," Johnny smiled.

"Two-Bit?"

Johnny nodded. "It's not his real name. Everyone calls him that cause he can't keep from putting in his two-bits worth. He's always wise-crackin' about something."

"He's actually funny?"

Johnny laughed and they were quite for a minute before Elizabeth spoke again.

"Johnny, can I ask you something?"

"Sure,"

"How did you get that scar?" Liz pointed to the small scar on Johnny's cheek.

Johnny stared down at his food. Liz noticed how uncomfortable he looked and immediately regretted asking.

"Sorry, I-"

"No, it's okay. I got it…I got it…" Johnny looked up and stared into Elizabeth's eyes remembering kissing her at the dance. He felt comfortable around her, like he could tell her anything. It probably the same feeling Ponyboy got when he was around Cherry Valance.

"I got jumped by a couple of socs last year." Johnny said slowly. "That's how I got it."

Liz gave him a sad look and before either of them could speak again, the bell went off.

"See you on Monday," Johnny said as he got up.

"Wait, I was wondering if you wanted to do something on Saturday. Maybe go to the movies?" Liz asked.

"Yeah, I'll go." Johnny said, forgetting about the plans he already made with Ponyboy.

"Great, see you tomorrow then," Liz went by Johnny and kissed his cheek before walking off. Johnny grinned and noticed some of the other kids gave him odd looks. He shrugged it off and made his way to his last class of the day.


	16. Ponyboy's Discovery

XXXXXX

After Johnny got done with his shift at the gas station, he met up with Elizabeth and they were both currently standing in the meadow watching the sun set.

The sun poked through what little clouds there were in the sky. The waters glittered with light and were calm. The sun gave of golden light, turning the clouds pink. In the field where Johnny and Elizabeth stood, Johnny's arm wrapped around her waist, savoring the perfect sunset.

"That was beautiful," Elizabeth said after the sun set.

"Yeah it was." Johnny sighed, he had never felt so whole, so complete. He had watched a sunset with a girl he now loved and wasn't afraid to express his feelings. If he had talked about watching a sunset with Steve, he probably would have laughed at.

"How about for the poetry project we do a poem on the sunset we just watched?" Liz asked.

"Yeah, the words are forming in my head already!" Johnny said in a good mood. "How about we go to my house and write it?"

"Well, I think the library is still open, but I guess so."

"Let's go then," he said taking her hand.

Upon entering the Curtis house, Ponyboy and Two-Bit were arm wrestling and Sodapop and Darry were playing a card game. Two-Bit looked up when he heard the door open, giving Pony the chance to pin his hand down.

Hey lookey here! Johnny's got himself a gal!" Two-Bit whooped slapping the table. Pony looked up and smiled at Johnny and Elizabeth, then at Two-Bit. Pony then reached across the table and slapped him, gently though, across the head.

"Man shut-up, you're embarrassing him!" Pony whispered, but not low enough. Darry looked up from the deck of cards questionably.

"Hey guys, this is my friend, no really good friend-" Johnny stuttered on his words.

Did him asking Liz to the dance, and his kiss and hugs make her his girlfriend? Or were they just friends? Johnny decided the hell with it.

"Guys this is my girlfriend Liz," Johnny said, daring to look at Elizabeth. She was smiling and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. Johnny smiled.

"At least we know what he has been up to these days." Darry whispered loud enough so everyone could hear.

Johnny turned red and everyone else in the room laughed.

"Yeah, were going to work on our project now." Johnny said dragging Liz by her hand to his room

"Yeah some project." Soda laughed.

"Make sure you don't lock the door Johnny." Darry teased.

"Haha really funny Darry," Johnny said closing the door behind him.

Liz bounced on Johnny's bed.

"Comfy!" she laughed.

Johnny smiled and went to the drawer to take out pieces of paper and pencils. He handed her a piece of paper.

"Shall we begin?" he asked.

Outside the door they heard Two-Bit whisper, "Begin what?" and start to laugh.

Elizabeth chuckled. "Do they always listen in on your conversations?" she asked, face glowing.

"Well, I've never brought a girl over before." He said shyly, and immediately wished he hadn't.

Liz shrugged.

"I've never brought a boy to my house either," she giggled. Liz got up and sat next to Johnny, who was on the floor. "So how do you want to start the poem?" she asked.

"Before we start, I need to take care of something."

Johnny stood up and walking over to the door. Once in front, he banged on it as hard as he could.

"Damn!" Two-Bit yelled from the other side. "Alright I'll leave you alone, but mark my words Johnny, I'll get you for that!" he said, walking off.

Johnny looked over to Liz and smiled.

"In the embrace of loved one the suns light began to fade. That is how we should start it."

After they got done, Johnny walked Elizabeth to the door and kissed her.

"See you tomorrow," she said and left.

Johnny walked back to his room and shut the door. A second later a knock came and Pony walked in.

"Hey Johnny, what time do you want to go?" Pony asked.

"What do you mean?"

"To the movies,"

"Oh," he said, now remembering.

"What's the matter?"

Johnny laughed nervously.

"Here's the thing, during lunch today Liz asked me to go with her to the movies…and I kind of forgot that we had plans," Johnny trailed off.

Johnny noticed Ponyboy's disappointed look

"It's not big deal is it? I mean, we do things together all the time."

"Alright I'll go with Two-Bit," Pony sighed.

Johnny felt bad as Pony closed the door. He didn't mean for this to happen.

XXXXXX

The next day, Johnny reached Elizabeth's house just as she was walking out the front door. He leaned on the fence at the end of her front yard, trying to look cool and casual. Only had chosen to lean on the only part of the fence that broken. The fence gave way under his weight and he ended up face first on the ground.

Johnny propped himself up on one elbow and grinned up at Liz.

"You look good from this angle."

Liz stared at him in total confusion, than burst out laughing. "Johnny, you get weirder everyday!"

He got off the ground and lit a cigarette. "That makes you pretty weird too, since you're datin' me."

After a five minute walk, they arrived at the Dingo. Johnny saw that Ponyboy and Two-Bit were already there, in a couple rows down from them.

Johnny sat down beside her and Liz kissed his cheek. The lights went off the movie started. It was a horror movie and every time Liz got scared she turned away from the screen and put her head on his shoulder. Johnny couldn't help but grin a little.

After a few minutes Liz leaned over and whispered to him.

"I'm going to the bathroom. I'll be right back."

Johnny nodded and Liz got up and left. He focused back on the screen.

"Johnny!" Ponyboy yelled.

"Pony! Shut up!" He yelled back as others in the theater looked at them.

"Did the broad walk out on you?" Two-Bit asked.

"No, she went to the bathroom."

Ponyboy stood up and walked passed him.

"Alright, I'm going to get a coke, you want one?"

Johnny shook his head and Pony left.

Pony walked over to the stand to by a coke, but before he did he decided to go the bathroom first.

"I don't know if I can do this." A girl's voice said.

Pony listened closer. That was Liz's voice.

"Liz, you have to." A guy replied.

"He's such a nice guy...this is wrong."

"We have to get revenge for Bob. Just do this for another day."

Ponyboy carefully looked around the corner. Elizabeth was talking to a soc.


	17. Blinded By Beauty

XXXXXX

Ponyboy turned back around and ran back to the theater as quietly as he could, not even bothering to finish listening to whatever Elizabeth and that soc was talking about.

He saw Johnny and ran over to him, grabbing him from underneath the arm and pulling him up.

"What the-" Johnny began then realized it was Ponyboy who had a hold of him.

"Pony what in the world are you doing?"

"Johnny it's Liz, I just saw her talking to…a soc."

"What?"

Johnny was surprised by what Ponyboy had just told him. Elizabeth was more in the middle class, not really a greaser or a soc.

"Are you sure it was her?" Johnny asked.

Before Pony could respond Elizabeth had walked back in and came over towards them.

"Hello," she greeted Pony. "You're Ponyboy Curtis aren't you?"

"Stay away from him!" Ponyboy snapped at her, causing her to jump back a little.

"Pony-" Johnny tried to cut in, but Pony continued yelling.

"I saw you with that soc!"

"Liz is that true?" Johnny asked, not wanting to believe it.

"Of course not, I don't know what he's talking about!"

"Like hell you don't! You were planning something with that soc, I heard you talking!"

By this time, everyone in the theater was looking over at the three of them. Elizabeth now had tears running down her cheeks.

"Johnny, I wasn't doing anything, you have to believe me."

"She's lying," Pony said.

Johnny looked at Liz as her tears continued to flow. Her eyes pleaded with him.

"Well…obviously you're the one who's lying!" Johnny yelled turning to Ponyboy.

Ponyboy stared at Johnny, stunned.

"Wh…What?"

Johnny shook his head.

"Jesus Pony, just because I didn't go with you to the movies, you're doing it again!"

Johnny grabbed Liz's hand.

"Come on, let's get out of here."

The two of them pushed open the doors out to the lobby and walked out through the doors of the front entrance.

"What's wrong with him?" Liz asked, whipping the tears away from her face.

"I don't know, every time I start to hang out with someone other then him, he goes nuts," Johnny explained remembering the whole ordeal with Sodapop during the summer.

The two crossed the street and walked down the sidewalk.

"Listen want to come to my house?" Johnny asked.

"Sure," Liz said, smiling at him.

After a few more minutes of walking they arrived at the Curtis house. Johnny opened the door for Elizabeth and she walked inside.

"Sorry about the mess," Johnny said as they walked into the living room and sat down on the couch together.

"No, it's alright. My house is always messy too. So when do your parents get home?"

"Uh, this is the Curtis's house. I live here with them."

"Oh."

"It's kind of a long story. I don't really want to go into it," Johnny explained.

"Okay…wait if this is the Curtis house then that boy-" Liz began.

"Don't worry if he comes here, we'll just leave."

"I'm sorry if I caused anything between you two," Elizabeth said.

"It's okay, it's not your fault."

They were quite for a minute, just starring into each others eyes before Liz moved forward and kissed Johnny's lips.

Johnny smiled and gently touched her face with his fingers. Elizabeth put her hand on the back of Johnny's head and the kiss deepened.

"Oh!" Said a voice.

Johnny and Elizabeth jumped apart to see Sodapop standing at the entrance of the living room grinning at the two.

"Sorry. You two finishing up or just starting?" Soda asked.

"Soda," Johnny groaned.

Sodapop chuckled and walked out of the living room and into the kitchen.

"Liz," Johnny began but she cut him off.

"It's okay. You know what, why don't you meet me at the lake tomorrow , say at 12?"

"Okay, you want me to bring anything?"

"No, just you. We can continue working on a poetry project."

Elizabeth smiled and kissed Johnny once more before standing up.

"See you tomorrow."

As Liz left the house Soda walked back into the living room, still having a sly look on his face at Johnny.

"What!" Asked Johnny innocently.

"Down boy! You were really playin it up in the living room!" Soda laughed.

"No offense Soda, but your the last one to talk! How many times have Darry and I walked in on you and a girl on the sofa and you'd gone a lot farther than that," replied Johnny.

Sodapop's sly face turned into a red one, as he said "Why do you always have to ruin my fun, by bringing up one of those stories?"


	18. Elizabeth's Deception

XXXXXX

When it was time for dinner, together Sodapop and Johnny cooked and they made fried chicken with mashed potatoes and peas.

When they severed it out, Johnny avoided Ponyboy's gaze and sat down, not looking up from his food once or speaking, just listened on as Soda and Darry made small talk.

Since he and Soda made dinner, Ponyboy and Darry did the dishes.

After Johnny stepped out of the bathroom, Ponyboy approached him.

"Johnny I need to talk to you."

"Pony, I don't want to hear it," Johnny said.

"I'm telling you the truth, I saw her talking to a soc. I think she planning something and you might get hurt."

"Why do you always act like this?"

"Like what?"

"When you aren't getting the most attention you act…well, crazy Pony." Johnny responded.

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Pony asked, getting angry.

"Well, first Darry doesn't pay enough attention to you. Then it's Soda, I now I should be spending every minute of every day with you. I mean when does it end?"

"You know what? Fine don't listen to me," Pony snapped. "Just don't come crying to me when she breaks your heart."

Pony went to his room and slammed the door. Johnny sighed and closed his door quietly and crawled into bed.

The next day Johnny came out of his room and past the kitchen, seeing Two-Bit and Dally there, playing cards and eating chocolate cake.

"We're you going?" Two-Bit asked, looking up from the stack of cards he was dealing out to Dally.

"Yeah, got some hot date or something?" Dally asked.

"No, just going for a walk." Johnny replied heading out the door.

"Sure you are." Two-Bit teased with a wink.

Johnny stepped out into the crisp, cool air of fall. He popped his collar and took out a cigarette. He began walking down the sidewalk to Liz's house.

When he arrived, he heard a man yelling at the top of his lungs.

"Damn it Liz you're not going anywhere!"

"Daddy, please, just, go sit down and finish drinking your beer."

"Don't you order your father around!"

The sound of a glass hitting against the wall followed by a shriek of fear yelled from Liz's mouth.

Johnny stood outside the house, not sure what to do, a painful reminder of when his parents shouting at or hit him.

The front door opened and Elizabeth ran from the house, almost bumping into Johnny

"Hey." Johnny said, giving a shy smile.

"Hey, let's go." Liz said and began walking away from the house.

Johnny followed her and decided not to ask about what had happened in the house.

He didn't know what to say, they just continued to walk down the sidewalk in an uncomfortable silence. Suddenly, Elizabeth's father came bounding out of the house and down the sidewalk screaming at the top of him lungs.

He was a big man who hadn't shaven in a long time. He had a beer bottle in his hands.

"Oh, no." Liz whispered in fear as her father approached.

She grabbed his hand, sending an exiting splurge of energy through him. Her hands were soft, and seemed to fit perfectly in his hands.

"Run," she whispered starting to jog, then eventually breaking into an all-out sprint. She was fast;

Johnny was out of breath when they reached the lake, and then stopped.

Liz sat down and watched the lake, Johnny walked over and sat next to her.

"What happened?" Johnny asked, concern clinging to each word he said.

Liz looked down at her shoes and whispered,

"He's a drunk, it used to be worse before when he did drugs. But he went to rehab, got off the drugs but, continued drinking."

Johnny reached over and hugged her, knowing what it was like to have an alcoholic father. She hugged him back, clinging onto him tight.

Liz got herself together and the two started talking for a few minutes. Unbeknownst to them, a blue mustang had pulled up and four socs had gotten out and were now approaching them.

"Johnny, you're such a nice boy. And I really like you a lot." Elizabeth smiled.

"I like you too."

"There's something I need to tell you."

"Hey greaser," a voice said before she could finish.

Johnny looked over and he quickly got to his feet, eyes widening when he saw the socs.

"W-What do you want?" Johnny stuttered, trying not to sound scared but couldn't help it. He didn't have a blade and had no one to help him.

"Brian, please don't." Liz begged.

"It's alright Liz, you did a great job. You can leave now." The soc she called Brian said.

Johnny looked over at Elizabeth.

"Liz, what does he mean?" He asked.

Tears welled up in her eyes but Brian quickly grabbed her arm.

"I said get out of here!" He yelled.

Liz quickly turned and ran as fast as she could.

Brian then looked back over at Johnny.

"You actually think a girl like that would be into greaser trash like you?" He laughed as the other socs surrounded Johnny.

"We set your ass up."

One of the soc's clubbed Johnny in the back on the neck and Johnny fell to the ground.

"This is for Bob."

Then all of a sudden, they were all on him - punching, kicking, pulling him around. Johnny screamed and yelled as loud as he could, but it seemed like there was no point. Johnny then blacked out.

XXXXXX

Johnny heard a faint soothing voice that was so familiar to him as he felt a gentle hand run through his hair. He slowly opened his eyes to look up into Soda's blue ones as he smiled gently. Johnny looked around saw Ponyboy sitting in a chair and realized he was in a hospital.

"Hey buddy," Soda greeted. "You've just got some bumps and bruises. We got there before the socs did anything really bad."

"What happened?" Johnny asked.

"Socs jumped you. Elizabeth, she ran back to our house and told us everything. That she was actually a soc's girlfriend. Dally was about to jump her right then and there but she told us what was going on and led us to you."

"I don't get it," Johnny said.

"You know what I don't get?" Pony snapped, getting to his feet. "I don't get why you couldn't listen to me!"

"Pony," Soda began but he ignored him.

"You were so busy defending your saint of a girlfriend and you make me out to be some kind of attention seeking nutcase!" Pony then turned and stormed out of the room.

Johnny sighed and looked down. He was right.

"He didn't mean it Johnny," Soda said. "Listen, there's going to be a rumble in a couple days, so get better, because we're gonna need you."

After Soda left, Johnny tried to get some sleep but was interrupted by the nurse.

"Johnny," she said. "There's someone here to see you."

"I don't want to see her," Johnny snapped, thinking it was Elizabeth. He rubbed his head, still groggy and when he opened his eyes he was staring at a woman.

A very familiar woman.


	19. Getting Back on Track

XXXXXX

Johnny thought he should be feeling indignation, bitterness, rage, but all he felt was confusion. Confused that his mother was visiting him in the hospital.

She looked almost scared, he noted in slight disgust.

"Hello Johnny," Sarah Cade greeted quietly.

For a moment, all either could do was stare at each other.

"You look different," Johnny noted, he hadn't seen her for months.

Sarah's lips curved slightly. "So do you."

Johnny leaned back casually, wincing as still had a headache. Silence once again fell over the two, as Sarah truly looked at her son's bruises for the first time.

"My poor baby," she whispered mournfully, reaching out to touch his hand.

As if burned, Johnny retracted his hands far away. Sarah flinched at her son's reaction, but he felt no sympathy. None at all.

"You don't get to call me that," he hissed, relishing the pain on her face. Before, she use to hurt him with her hateful words, now he was only repaying the favor.

"Besides, I don't think you want to acknowledge a juvenile delinquent as your baby," Johnny said.

"I never thought of you as that,"

"No," he said dangerously, "No, you don't have the right –not anymore. Why you even came here is beyond me."

"I came here because I'm your mother. And it's just that…every since you left and you're fathers been in jail, the house has been…empty."

"Are you kidding me?" Johnny asked softly, gritting his teeth in anger. "You actually have the goddamn nerve to come here and tell me you're lonely!"

"Johnny!" Sarah snapped instinctively. "Language!"

"If you're lonely buy a dog," Johnny muttered under his breath.

She shook her head. "We…I never _wanted _you to end up here. You could have come home after you're dad was sentenced."

"You would've welcomed me back with open arms? Did you think I'd forget your husband's fist?"

"Why aren't you calling him what he is, Johnny? You're _dad_."

His mouth curled in disgust. "Who?"

To his surprise, Sarah looked almost close to tears. "I'm sorry, Johnny. I've made a lot of mistakes."

"A mistake? Sure was one hell of a mistake; look at where I am now. I've made my choices, but _you _forced me to leave. _You _hated me–only natural that I hate you back. What goes around comes around right?"

A flicker of what could have been remorse flashed in Sarah's eyes. "I'm sorry, Johnny," she said again.

Johnny closed his eyes, remembering days when she wouldn't even acknowledge his existence, remembering all the fighting she and his dad use to do and the times she would yell at him, the angrier he got.

"Stop apologizing when you don't mean it; you don't know me, you never did. Take your 'I'm sorry' and fuck off!" Johnny yelled, using language he only ever heard from Dally.

Sarah Cade flinched, but did not reprimand her son this time. Slowly, she turned around and headed for the door.

"I wasn't ready to have a baby," Sarah said quietly and she stood in front of the door. "I had just gotten out of high school…you're father and I, we weren't in love. I would have to work two jobs sometimes, because he always got fired. I'm not asking you to forgive me…I just want you to understand."

Sarah opened to the door.

"If you want to come home, you can. I would like to get to know you."

Slowly she walked out, closing the door behind her.

After Johnny got out of the hospital, he spent the next few days at home recuperating. Pony brought him home schoolwork so he wouldn't get too far behind.

Even though they weren't fighting, Pony and him still weren't speaking. Johnny knew it was his fault; he shouldn't have accused him of just wanting attention all the time.

Johnny took his math sheet and walked to Ponyboy's room. The door was opened and Pony was sitting in a chair, reading some book with his feet propped up on the desk.

"Hey, Pony."

"Hm?"

"What's negative eight minus negative eight?"

"Zero." Pony said, not even bothering to look up from his book.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Not negative sixteen?"

"No."

"Oh."

Ponyboy smiled knowingly,

"Johnny, I know you're smarter than you play off to be."

"I can't even subtract negative eight from negative eight." Johnny growled. Ponyboy grinned and motioned for Johnny to come into the room.

"It's an easy mistake, Johnny," Pony said as Johnny sat down on the bed.

"Look. You just got confused. It's like a double negative. Minus and negative are both negative words, so when someone uses a double negative, it turns into a positive. So you're actually adding."

"This stuff makes my head hurt," Johnny said.

"Thank you for giving me some attention today, I may have went crazy and bit someone if you didn't."

Johnny sighed.

"I said I'm sorry alright, I didn't mean it."

"Yeah, whatever shorty." Pony said, going back to his book.

"Shorty?" Johnny said, mouth hanging open.

He picked up a pillow off the bed and threw it at Pony, hitting him square in the face. Pony pulled the pillow to his chest and grinned evilly.

"You are going to pay for that," Ponyboy said and then he charged, wielding the pillow in a deadly manner and smacking Johnny upside the head.

Johnny picked up the other pillow, and devised a defensive strategy. He held the pillow up, blocking Pony's blows, and then, just when Ponyboy was about to strike him for the fourth time, he lunged for the other boy's waist, dropping the pillow and successfully tackling him.

Johnny sat on Ponyboy's chest and began tickling his ribs and stomach. Pony's started giggling and soon the giggling turned into full blown laughter, and presently, he was begging for Johnny to stop, almost screaming like a girl.

Johnny smirked at him. "Am I short?" he asked evilly, stopping to let Ponyboy answer.

Pony looked up at him, "Y-yes!" He burst out laughing again, and Johnny's tickling was renewed with full force. "S-stop! Please!"

Johnny gave him the evil look and asked once again, "Am I short!"

This time Ponyboy relented. "No, you're perfectly n-normal!" Johnny stopped immediately. He grinned and got up but Pony grabbed his ankle, tripping him.

Johnny got up and ran as Ponyboy ran after him did, out of the bedroom and into the kitchen where he looked in the fridge and grabbed a can of Pepsi. Ponyboy was not far behind him.

"You come near me and I pour this on you!" He said, but Pony lunged anyways. Johnny dodged, and Pony grabbed his own can of Pepsi before he perused.

He chased Johnny through the living room, dodging the pillows and couch cushions that were flying at him, and then they were out the door. Both of them were laughing by now.

Somehow, Ponyboy had managed to come dangerously close to Johnny. So close in fact, that he would be able to turn around and drench the boy in Pepsi. This thought in mind, he stopped abruptly, ripping the can open and making a 180 turn. Pony skidded to a halt and a brief look of terror flashed over his face as the soda came flying out of the can.

Drenched in soda, and ready for revenge, opened his own can and jumped on Johnny's back, pouring the entire can over the other boy's head. As Johnny was fighting him off they tumbled out of the front door and onto the soft grass.

Ponyboy quickly pinned Johnny to the ground and began tickling him all over in revenge.

"Give up?" He asked.

Johnny didn't answer so Ponyboy just continued on, running his fingers into his ribs and sides mercilessly.

"Alright!" Johnny yelled.

"Say uncle." Pony responded, not letting up for a second.

"Uncle!"

Ponyboy grinned and stopped as he grabbed Johnny's wrists and pinned them next to his head. Usually when he wrestled with a member of the gang he always lost, it felt good to finally win this time.

They then heard a car pulled up in the drive way looked up to see Darry and Sodapop getting out.

"What in the world are you two doing?" Darry asked, looking down at the both of them, drenched in Pepsi.

Soda smiled.

"Nice to see you two getting along again."


	20. Home Again

XXXXXX

There was only twenty minutes left in the shift as Johnny stood on a step ladder and was washing windows in the DX, a little psyched because the rumble was tonight. He was so caught up thinking about he had been washing the same spot for the past five minutes.

The bell on the door ringing got him out of his daydream state.

"Johnny," said a familiar voice.

Johnny looked over to see Elizabeth standing there.

"Hi," he said. He got off the step ladder and walked behind the counter. "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

"You set me up."

"I said I'm sorry. It was wrong."

"Whatever, do you need anything?" He asked.

"I want to clear things up. I've never wanted anything bad to happen. We went to the lake that day because I was really starting to like you, and I was going to tell you everything-"

"Wait," Johnny interrupted. "You didn't lead me there so the socs could jump me?" He asked, surprised.

"Of course not."

"So that was never the plan?"

"That was the plan, but not at the lake. Me and Brian had broken up the previous day, I told him I didn't want anymore to do with this. He must have followed us."

Johnny sighed and stared at the register.

"So…do you hate me?" Liz asked.

"No, I don't hate you. Listen, there's going to be a rumble tonight."

"Don't do it," Elizabeth pleaded. "Don't go."

"I have to."

"I don't want you to get hurt."

Johnny smirked.

"I'm not the one who's gonna get hurt."

After getting done with his shift, Johnny headed home to prepare for the rumble.

There was nothing new about it, they all met together at the Curtis house and when it was time to get going to they all ran out of the house, hollering and carrying on while doing flips and cartwheels that Darry had taught them.

"Well," Two-Bit said cheerfully, cocking an eyebrow. "I think we are in prime condition for this rumble. Is everyone ready?"

"Yeah," Ponyboy screamed and they continued running to the vacant lot.

They weren't meeting anybody there so they just waited for the socs to cone. Johnny and Ponyboy usually doubled teamed one person during a rumble. Not exactly fair, but that's what the did. However, they would not be able to do that tonight, as it would be seven on seven.

Sodapop, Johnny, and Ponyboy were told to leave if the off chance the fuzz showed up. The socs finally pulled up and started getting out of their mustangs. It was then Johnny saw Liz's ex-boyfriend, Brian.

"You're about to get the worst ass beating of your life rich boys!" Two-Bit shouted as they lined up.

Johnny noticed Brian as he lined up. He was a little taller then him, but then again, just about everyone was a little taller then him.

As usual, Darry was going to start it off. A tall soc stepped forward.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Were the ones who have been waiting for you."

Then it was Darry who made the first move. He hit the soc with an uppercut that sent him straight to the ground and then it all broke out. Each group ran towards each other, throwing wild punches while cursing and shouting at each other.

Brian lunged at Johnny but he dodged him and placed Brian in a headlock and began punching the crap out of his skull.

Dally was on top of his soc in an instant and started slamming his elbow down on his chest.

"Just give it up you son of a bitch!" Dally yelled.

Sodapop blocked a punch from a soc and delivered a gut-busting fist into his stomach, rocking him backwards.

Ponyboy used his speed to his advantage, sticking and moving. The soc threw a punch at him, but Pony jumped back and came forward with a straight shot to the nose.

Two-Bit was kicking his opponent in the ribs while screaming,

"IS THAT ALL YOU GOT BITCH!" Two-Bit yelled. "COME ON YOU SHITTY LITTLE SON OF A-"

"You've been drinking tonight haven't you?" Dally asked while slugging his soc again.

Steve side-stepped away from a soc's punch and kneed him in the stomach, then hammered his back.

Johnny managed to slug Brian in the stomach and a few times in the face.

"Had enough man?" Johnny asked whipping off the sweat on his forehead.

Brian yelled out in anger and came charging at Johnny. Johnny quickly ducked and Ponyboy came running over at the speed of bullet and leaped up, dropkicking Brian right the chest. The force knocked the wind right out of him, and Brian crashed onto the ground.

One of the socs staggered back to his feet and looked on as the rest of them were getting a beat down. Dally grabbed on them and began slamming his head against the ground.

"Come on guys let's split!" He yelled and began running back to the cars.

The socs didn't have to be told again and began to retreat, Brian had to be helped to his feet and back to the mustang.

"Look at those cowards running away!" Two-Bit shouted, picking up rocks and dirt and whatever he could find on the ground and hurled it at the mustangs as they sped away.

Much later that night, Johnny sat at the kitchen table eating cake, unable to sleep.

He didn't didn't know what was wrong. The rumble was over, he wasn't hurt, he and Ponyboy had made up, and he and Elizabeth were made up. Still, something was bugging him.

"Okay what's wrong with you?" Pony asked.

Johnny looked up startled, realizing Ponyboy was sitting in front of him.

"How long have you been here?"

"A few minutes, now spill it before I drop kick you."

"Oh…it's nothing."

Johnny sighed.

"My mom came to visit me when I was in the hospital."

"What?" Pony said, mouth filled with food. "What did she say?"

"She just said she was sorry, and that she misses me."

"Yeah, I bet she misses somebody to yell at."

"I don't know…maybe she's changed."

Ponyboy looked at Johnny like he was crazy.

"What else did she say?"

Johnny sighed.

"She said that I could come back home if I wanted."

"Johnny…" Pony shook his head. "Going back home to your mom is like breaking back _in_ to Alcatraz."

Johnny couldn't help but laugh as he got up and washed his plate, after he was done he walked back to his room.

As he sat down on the bed, Ponyboy stuck his head in the door.

"Hey...you don't really want to go home do you?"

Johnny looked over to the suitcase he brought when he moved in. He was home.

"No, I'm not going anywhere."

Ponyboy smiled.

"Alright, see you tomorrow." Pony said and shut the door.

Johnny layed down on the bed and pulled the covers over himself, shutting his eyes.

"I have a family," he said in near disbelief as if it weren't real.

The End.


End file.
